FP1-
Nissan’s Oliver Rowland went quickest in the Diriyan desert, as the grid prepared to take on the first double header of the season.
Track evolution meant that the times kept tumbling, although the session was brought to a brief halt as the Envision Racing car of Sebastien Buemi stopped on track.
Jean Eric-Vergne for DS PENSKE finished the session in second 0.165s behind Rowland, with his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne popping into third.
The Envision Racing duo of Sebastien Buemi and Robin Frijns were the first to set the lap times, but quickly the rest of the grid followed. Reigning champion, Jake Dennis was the last to get a time in, but it didn’t impact his session as he finished in the top five.
Just over halfway through the session, double yellow flags were waved as Buemi came to a stop on the circuit between Turns 3 and 4. He made his way back to the garage, but his car was in a red condition which meant extra precautions had to be taken to remove it from the track.
As a result of the delay, the session was extended by 12 minutes by the FIA to make sure the drivers got as many laps on the board as possible.
FP2-
Andretti’s Norman Nato topped the timesheets in the second Free Practice session, as the drivers took to the epic Diriyah track in the midday sun.
His teammate, Jake Dennis finished third, with Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Guenther sandwiched between the two in second.
Teams and drivers headed out in the midday sun to get as much track time and data as they could. Track evolution continues to be rapid here, as the dirt and dust from the desert is kicked up by the grid as they fly around this 2.49km circuit.
Jake Dennis topped the timesheets with a 1m15.067s as he set the three fastest sectors with 18 minutes to go, and continued to keep locking in faster laps over the session.
Both Mahindras were looking rapid, with Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries going first and second with 13 minutes left on the clock. De Vries has won here twice before and Mortara has had some amazing overtakes.
Qualifying-
DS PENSKE’s Jean Eric-Vergne sealed Julius Baer Pole Position and jumped up to the top of the Drivers’ standings.
Vergne went up against the Jaguar TCS Racing of Mitch Evans as both drivers and teams were fighting for their first pole at this circuit.
Group A, was packed with lots of familiar favourites. However it was Cassidy, Dennis, Wehrlein and Evans who made it through. Last year’s polesitter Jake Hughes looked an early favourite, as he pushed his McLaren to the limit and even clipped the wall slightly to get himself half a second clear.
However, a second attempt at a fast lap led to Hughes making a mistake and not doing enough to improve on his time to finish fifth in the group.
Group B, the next group took to track shortly after, with plenty of big names trying to make it through to the Duels.
In the end it was Vergne who went to the top when the chequered flag fell with a 1m 12.856s. Joining him in the Semi’s was Sette Camara who got ERT’s first Duels appearance of the year, Guenther in third and Nato in fourth.
The biggest shock of the Group Stages were Antonio Felix da Costa as he finished Group B in ninth. The season 6 champion hasn’t looked completely comfortable in his Porsche so far this weekend, so will hope he can make up some good positions.
The full top 10 from qualifying are- P1: Vergne, P2: Evans, P3: Dennis, P4: Sette Camara, P5: Nato, P6: Wehrlein, P7: Cassidy, P8: Guenther, P9: Bird and P10: Hughes.
Round 2-
Reigning champion, Jake Dennis bounced back from disappointment in the Mexico City season-opener to win by more than 13 seconds in the first round of the Diriyah double-header!
Polesitter, Jean Eric Vergne had bolted off the line to hold an early lead and was forced into fending off the Jaguar TCS Racing pair of Mitch Ecans and Nick Cassidy as the race reached its climax.
A last lap lunge from Evans, running third at the time but with second in his sight, cost the Kiwi a podium as he overcooked the stop into Turn 18, handing third to his teammate Cassidy.
Cassidy, took his own direction on strategy of the leaders, opting to take his two mandatory Attack Mode boosts late on as he clambered through from seventh on the grid at the start.
The full top 10 are- P1: Dennis, P2: Vergne, P3: Cassidy, P4: Bird, P5: Evans, P6: Nato, P7: Guenther, P8: Wehrlein, P9: Sette Camara and P10: Frijns.
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